Ryo's Ultimatum
by badly-knitted
Summary: Dee has always expected Ryo to do all their paperwork, so he's taken by surprise when his partner delivers an ultimatum. Set midway through the manga. Written for fic promptly.


**Title:** Ryo's Ultimatum

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Dee, Ryo.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Setting:** Midway through the manga.

 **Summary:** Dee has always expected Ryo to do all their paperwork, so he's taken by surprise when his partner delivers an ultimatum.

 **Word Count:** 761

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Ryo/Dee, "Do your own paperwork for once!",' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Dee was napping at his desk when he was startled awake by a heavy thud. Jerking upright in his seat, where he'd been comfortably slouched, he opened his eyes to see a stack of forms and manila folders on his desk. Giving them a disgusted look, he slid them across the back-to-back desks towards Ryo, who had a much smaller pile in front of him.

"Take care of this for me, would ya?" He flashed a confident smile and started to slide back down in his seat, closing his eyes again, intending to resume his rudely interrupted nap.

"No."

"Thanks, b…" Wait a minute; what did Ryo just say? Dee's eyes snapped open once more and he stared incredulously at his partner. "What d'you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean I'm not bailing you out this time. Do your own paperwork for once! I'm sick and tired of having to do all of yours as well as my own." Ryo shoved the stack back onto Dee's desk.

"But you've hardly got anything to do, and I've got…" Dee gestured at the stack, "all this!"

"That's because I've been working my way through a pile twice the size of yours while you've been lazing around," Ryo shot back at him. "I've nearly finished mine and I'm not about to take on yours as well. I'm not your personal slave; I thought we were supposed to be partners."

"But you always do the paperwork. That was our deal when we started working together."

"Correction: that's what you ordered me to do when we became partners, and because I'm an idiot, I went along with it, figuring it was just your way of showing me the ropes. But it wasn't; you just take it for granted I'll do all the tasks you don't like, even though you don't outrank me. We've been working together for two years, Dee, and in all that time, how much of your own paperwork have you bothered to do? I've had enough of being taken for granted. You expect me to do all the paperwork, and then you have the nerve to invite yourself over for dinner, expecting me to cook for you too. That all ends now."

If having to do his own paperwork was bad news, the rest of Ryo's ultimatum was even worse. "You're not gonna feed me anymore?" Dee's face fell; he couldn't go back to eating microwave ready meals and the occasional takeout, not now he'd gotten accustomed to Ryo's home cooking.

"You don't do your paperwork, you're not welcome at my table. You think I enjoy doing paperwork? Well I don't, but it's a necessary part of our jobs so I do it. If we don't have the proper paperwork to present to the prosecution, all our efforts at catching criminals will end up being for nothing because they'll get off on one technicality or another."

"You're actually serious about this, aren't you?"

"What have I just been saying? God, sometimes I think you don't listen to me at all!" Ryo slumped over his desk, head in hands.

"I always listen," Dee insisted, bewildered. What had gotten into his partner? "Hey, you okay?"

Ryo raised his head to glare tiredly at Dee. "No. I have a splitting headache and I think that bastard this morning might have cracked one of my teeth."

Dee felt immediately contrite; Ryo had a purple bruise along the left side of his jaw from where a suspect had taken a swing at him earlier, but he'd been soldiering on regardless, without a word of complaint until now. "Sorry. Look, why don't you take a couple of Tylenol and go crash on the break room sofa for a bit? I'll… deal with this lot, okay?" He waved his hand at his pile of papers.

"Can't." Ryo sounded resigned. "I haven't finished mine yet."

"Shove 'em over here, I'll finish up for ya, and I'll pick up Chinese after work, save you havin' to cook. That should be soft enough for you to eat."

Ryo managed a wan, lopsided smile. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, now go before I come to my senses." Dee turned back to the stack of paperwork as Ryo left the squad room. Maybe his partner was right and he was being unfair, it was just that Ryo was so much more efficient than he was, and paperwork was boring. Still, it wasn't going to do itself. Pulling the pile towards him, Dee set to work. He'd do whatever it took to keep Ryo happy and the home-cooked meals coming.

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The End


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